On land, manual clean-up operations were organized in
coordination with the disaster coordination councils at the national, regional,
provincial and local levels. The "cash for work" system was launched on
Saturday, August 19. Residents in affected barangays were initially given P200
a day, increased to P300/daily starting 27 August, to participate in the
clean-up. They were grouped in teams of 50 and supervised by Petron employees.
They were equipped with protective gloves, masks, and boots.
The clean-up started in Nueva Valencia, and as of Tuesday,
August 29, 97 kilometers of shoreline had been cleared. Three barangays were
declared clean - Canhawan, Igdarapdap and Dolores. A total of 748 metric tons
of debris had been collected. The collected oil will be treated in a disposal
site to speed up biodegradation. The location of the site has yet to be decided
by the province.
The number of local residents now involved in the clean-up is
almost 1,369. It is estimated that the clean-up of the affected areas will take
30 to 45 days.
Petron Corporation has been coordinating with the provincial
government and the DENR to identify a suitable transshipment site for the oil
and debris recovered in the clean-up operations. Transfer and disposal
protocols have also been defined.
Other safety considerations include proper design of the
temporary disposal site -- which will be plastic-lined -- and control of
leachate. The Company is finalizing arrangements with a waste processing
facility that can handle the debris without generating harmful compounds or
emissions.
